Struggling for Hope
by edger230
Summary: Po is sick with a horrible disease. Do you want to know what it is? Then read the story! Po X Tigress


**Dedicated to KungFuPandaFanatic who writes great stories and always reviews mine. I'm proud to call you my friend.**

**and to LexisTexas2000 who has reviewed all my Kung Fu Panda stories from the beginning. I'm proud to call you my friend as well.**

Po tossed and turned in his bed trying to fall back asleep. It was minutes before the gong would ring and he would have to get up and start today's training. However, he was suffering from pain in his bones and joints and had a stomach ache as well as feeling rather weak. He wanted just a few more minutes of sleep, but the pain kept him awake almost half of last night.

Seconds later, he heard to gong ring. He sighed and slowly got up from bed. He extremely slowly started making his way to the door while swinging and clutching his stomach feeling as if someone was trying to break his bones. He could hear the five greeting Master Shifu in the way they always did in the mornings. He then heard Master Shifu groan.

"Po! Wake up!" Shifu said in his usual strict tone. Before Po could say that he was coming, his door swung open. For a moment, Shifu had his usual strict look on his face but it soon changed to confused and slightly worried.

"Po, are you alright?" he asked.

The Five walked over to the door as well and gave him concerned looks. Po didn't want to worry his friends so he put on the best smile he could and ignored the pain in his bones.

"I'm fine guys. I just had a rough night last night." he said.

For a moment, the concerned looks refused to leave his friends' faces but eventually they shrugged and looked at their Master once again.

"Alright students, go have breakfast and begin your training." Shifu said and walked towards the Peach tree of Heavenly wisdom to meditate. The five began to walk toward the kitchen with Po slowly following them trying to hide his pain.

As four of the five walked into the kitchen, Tigress stayed behind. She looked at Po. No one knew that they had been secretly together for about a week and a half now. She couldn't help but notice him cringe every few steps.

"Po, are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Po replied.

Tigress still couldn't help worrying as she walked into the kitchen with Po who put a smile back on his face. Once in the kitchen, Po began to grab the things needed to make breakfast.

While pulling food, pots and pans out of the cabinets, he grew dizzier by the second. "_What's wrong with me?" _he thought. Finally, he held his head with one hand and began to sway back and forth feeling like he was about to pass out. Tigress and the others noticed this and quickly grabbed him to try to keep him stable.

"Po, what's wrong?" Viper asked frantically.

Although the five were keeping him on his feet, Po blacked out and his head slammed onto the counter top. Tigress grew frantic although she showed no signs of it. She slowly lifted Po's head and discovered his nose was pouring a river of blood.

"Po! Can you hear me?" she practically shouted while gently shaking his arm. There was no answer from the panda.

Monkey grabbed a towel and held it to Po's nose as it quickly became covered in blood. Crane flew out the room to get Shifu, Mantis grabbed more towels and Viper and Tigress gently lay Po on his side on the floor.

Shifu dashed into the room. Once he took one look at Po, he knew there was something horribly wrong. He looked at Tigress, who was the fastest out of all of the Five.

"Tigress! Go to the hospital and get help!" he said. Tigress immediately sprinted out of the room.

**-Tigress' POV-**

I had never been as scared as that moment I dashed out of the kitchen. As I sprinted down the steps to the Jade Palace, I nearly tripped over a thousand times. When I finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, I began sprinting towards the hospital. I was like a bowling ball. I nearly knocked over the villagers as I ran by, but I didn't care. Not with my boyfriend's life at stake.

I finally reached the hospital and burst through the doors. The secretary looked at me in surprise.

"I need help at the Jade Palace! Please help!" I said and was surprised at how scared I sounded.

The secretary grabbed a few doctors and a stretcher and we made our way back to the Jade Palace. Although the doctors were new to the stairs, the still continued to run when they reached the top.

When we got to the kitchen, I noticed about a dozen towels on the floor saturated with blood and Po was still unconscious on the floor. His nose was still bleeding and the others were still tending to him. The doctors quickly, yet carefully, grabbed Po and put him onto the stretcher. We then sprinted out of the kitchen, out the door and down the stairs.

When we finally reached the hospital, the doctors quickly brought the still unconscious Po into a hospital room. Before I could ask any of the questions that were on my mind, they slammed the door behind them.

We were all taking deep breaths due to the fact that we had just sprinted the whole way to the hospital. I finally heard the others speak up.

"I hope he's okay." Viper said.

"How could his nose have been bleeding that much?" asked Mantis.

"I guess all we can do is wait." said Monkey.

I just looked at the floor. "Tigress, are you okay?" I heard Shifu ask. All I could do was nod. We all took a seat.

After about an hour or so, a doctor came out of the room. He had a sad look on his face. Something was horribly wrong. I could feel it.

"Well he's alive." The doctor began. We all breathed a sigh of relief.

"How could his nose have been bleeding that much?" Mantis asked again.

"Well, Po is very sick. Had he been complaining about his bones, joints or stomach hurting at all?" the doctor asked.

"I did notice him cringing earlier this morning when he was walking, but he claimed he was fine." I said. "What is he sick with?" I asked, dreading the answer. The doctor sighed. The next word that came out of his mouth would haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Leukemia."

To be continued

For those who don't know, Leukemia is a type of cancer.


End file.
